Our Complete Family

Today Maggie came home and we are all very ecstatic.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitebear007/sets/72157622838183514/

So here we are, a week into the lives of our beautiful babies and we couldn’t be more in love. The last week and a half has been quite a journey and we are rapidly learning that parenthood is the craziest rollercoaster ride that Disney World doesn’t offer but heartily endorses! I was admitted to the hospital over a week ago because of contractions and spent six days undergoing tests and monitoring, wondering when these babies were going to come out of me, while being more impressed than I should have at the quality of the hospital food.
After much scrutiny, the docs decided on Monday November 2nd that babies needed to come out that day. At 5:14 pm, Silas Hauck Hollowell and Maggie May Hollowell arrived in this world in rapid succession. Silas weighed in at 5 pounds, 12 ounces and 19 inches long, while his sister Maggie came in at a mere 3 pounds, 3 ounces and 15 inches long. Yes, that is a wide discordance in weights; don’t worry, we are confident that Maggie will make Silas pay for his in-utero greediness for a long time.
Needless to say, Maggie’s petite size put her into the NICU where she is currently spending her days and nights trying to put some weight on so she can come home and have a sit-down with Silas about his need to learn to share. She is doing well in the NICU, although she has a habit of eating slowly and in a persnickety fashion (as they read this, my parents are saying, “Like her mother!“) which means that, while she takes most of her food by bottle, she sometimes has to be fed through a feeding tube. She was originally on an IV providing her with fluids, but has been able to be taken off of that, which we hope she can stay off of. She has fortunately never needed respiratory support and has been doing well maintaining her body temperature so she will hopefully be moved from an incubator to a regular crib soon.
We have no time frame as to when she can come home, because she has to achieve the perfect storm of weight gain, body temperature and food intake before the medical staff approve for her to be strong enough. No worry, though, if you know anything about women from the May and Hauck clan, you know that we come from tough stock and Maggie has already proven herself to be a resilient little lady! While it is challenging to have her so far away in the hospital, especially since my visitations are limited to when someone can drive me there while Keith stays home with Silas, the blessing is that this gives us the opportunity to acclimate to having at least one baby at home-- so challenging in its own right, I can’t imagine what two at the same time would have been like! We will find out soon enough!!
We got to take Silas home this past Friday and have been having a fantastic time learning the ins and outs of sleepless nights and the relentless desire to insert his feet into my mouth on every occasion allowable. Keith and Silas had their first football Sunday together, lamenting the pitiful state of affairs of that football team to our north. Silas has been refining his sleeping skills and has thoroughly impressed us with his ability to pee while simultaneously getting his diaper changed. Meanwhile, Keith is learning the indispensable arts of burping Silas after his feedings and swaddling in the dark.

We are very fortunate to have such a wonderful support group of family and friends that have helped us with assistance and well wishes. People have been so generous to provide us with homemade meals, takeout, groceries, diapers, positive vibes, transportation, and kindness that we could have never lived without. Our friends and family are the essential glue that holds us together so that we can feel like this is manageable. We are the luckiest White Bear clan in the world!!

The Final Countdown

Well this was a very interesting week for The WB Clan. Around 4am on Wednesday morning Sharon started feeling contractions and decided to wake me up from a sound and pleasant slumber only to find out that we were going to the hospital so the doctors could monitor her progress. But alas after a few hours of monitoring and shooting Sharon up with morphine but - although that sounds awesome- unfortunately the drugs did not agree with Sharon much like the time she was unlawfully given an Ambien and hallucinated about Southwest airline bag handlers.
So we stayed at the hospital where we were told that although The Twins are trying desperately to enter this crazy world, well mainly the boy who is now head down and within inches of claiming freedom, it is not time yet! We are trying to hold off on birthing these little ones because at this point, every day is a chance for them to get bigger and healthier. However, we are in a really good place and ready to roll since both babies are at or over four pounds and Sharon is well into her 35 week, we are told that term for twins is around 37 and on average most twins are born around 34 weeks.
I know some of you were hoping for Halloween babies, but it looks like the only thing spooky about us is our dog in a ridiculous squirrel outfit. For now Sharon is staying in the hospital trying to add as much time as possible to this whole pregnancy thing, I am sleeping at the hospital on a cot and then working during the day, and The Twins are getting ready to change everything.